[Dailydrool] Annual exams

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

Last week I took our Elsinore and young Charlie to the vet for their  
annuals. I was especially concerned about Charlie because last year  
he had a reaction to one of his vaccinations, and his face swelled up  
to the point that we were calling him Fat Face and Fat Head. It was  
pretty scary, really, especially since we had only children's liquid  
Benedryl in the house and the ER vet said that wouldn't be enough, we  
needed the adult strength. The ER vet also said it was only Charlie's  
skin that was swelling, not his airways, but he looked so awful that  
it was hard to believe her. We raced with him to the drugstore,  
bought adult-strength Benedryl, and dosed him in the car before  
driving home again. It took a full day for his face to return to its  
right proportions and his head to stop looking as if it'd had a buzz  
cut.

So this year I was prepared. I was packing Benedryl on my body when  
we went to the vet's, and I reminded him of what had happened last  
year. He said it was the "L" in the DHLP-PV vaccination that usually  
causes that type of reaction, so he gave Charlie a vaccination that  
didn't have the "L" in it. He also preceded the vaccination with an  
antihistamine injection. I stayed with Charlie the whole day and  
watched him closely for swelling, but fortunately he was fine.

Our Elsinore, however, led the vet to believe she had more in her  
abdomen than a tummy full of breakfast. He spent a lot of time  
feeling her abdomen and then decided to take an x-ray because he  
thought he felt something that shouldn't be in there. The x-ray  
showed nothing, but a poop sample had traces of blood. The vet said  
Elsinore could have a mild abrasion from the pig ear she'd eaten the  
day before, she could have an ulcer, or she could have a tumor too  
small to show up on an x-ray. Of course we hoped for the first two  
scenarios.

She spent a week taking a pill that's basically the active ingredient  
in Pepcid-AC, and I spent a week trying not to think about tumors.  
Thankfully, today's poop check found no blood at all. So the vet says  
that rules out a tumor. She's now to have no pills for two weeks and  
then she'll have another poop check. If the blood is back, then she  
probably has an ulcer. The vet asked if anyone in the family was on  
ulcer medication and then explained that most ulcers are caused by  
bacteria, and different species can share that particular bacteria  
with each other. I immediately went home and searched the internet  
for information on ulcers, because Elsinore's been acting just fine.  
Lots of energy and appetite. Interestingly enough, many of the ulcer  
symptoms are problems I've been having for a while. I'd already made  
a doctor's appointment to look into it, so now when I go in a couple  
of weeks I can tell the doctor that my dog may have given me an  
ulcer. I wonder what the doctor's reaction to that will be?

Elizabeth